Nadal-Schwartzman; Cilic-Del Potro: Looking Ahead To Wednesday’s QFs

Rafael Nadal will aim to move one step closer to a historic 11th Roland Garros title when he clashes with Diego Schwartzman in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros on Wednesday. Meanwhile, on Court Suzanne Lenglen, Marin Cilic and Juan Martin del Potro face off, for the 13th time in their FexEx ATP Head2Head series.

ATPWorldTour.com previews Wednesday’s Roland Garros quarter-finals.

[1] Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs. [11] Diego Schwartzman (ARG)

Nadal leads FedEx ATP Head2Head series 5-0

Nadal and Schwartzman will do battle for the second straight Grand Slam on Wednesday. At the Australian Open, earlier this year, Nadal overcame the 5’7″ Argentine after three hours and 51 minutes to reach the quarter-finals. The two also met this year at the Mutua Madrid Open, with the Spaniard prevailing in straight sets to score his second clay-court victory over Schwartzman.

Schwartzman will take heart from his heroics this fortnight in Paris. The Rio Open presented by Claro champion reached the Round of 16 without dropping a set, before coming from two sets down, for the first time in his career, to beat Kevin Anderson and reach the last eight.

“I am in the quarter-finals and the biggest test now is the next round [against Schwartzman]… You go on court. You can win, you can lose. That’s the only thing that you need to be ready for,” said Nadal, after defeating Germany’s Maximilian Marterer in straight sets on Monday.

Nadal has now won 37 consecutive sets at Roland Garros, just four short of Bjorn Borg’s record 41 consecutive sets from 1979-1981. The Spaniard won each set he played en route to his 10th Roland Garros title last year.

“I know it’s [Nadal’s] second home, and it’s going to be a really tough match,” said Schwartzman. “I need to recover well, because against him I need to run a lot and do my best.”

[3] Marin Cilic (CRO) vs. Juan Martin del Potro (ARG)

Del Potro leads FedEx ATP Head2Head series 10-2 

Juan Martin del Potro and Marin Cilic may be meeting for the 13th time on Wednesday, but the two former US Open champions’ tour-level meetings have been few and far between in recent years. Del Potro and Cilic have met just twice since the 2013 Rolex Paris Masters, and will meet for the first time on clay since their third-round meeting in Paris six years ago.

“Marin is a great player. We know each other a lot. We have played great matches in the past, many five-set matches together,” said Del Potro. “I know how tough his game is, but I will try to be even better than [my Round of 16 match], play my tennis, and then see if I have a chance to win.”

The Argentine is aiming to reach his second Roland Garros semi-final, nine years after he lost in five-sets to eventual champion Roger Federer at the last four stage. On the other hand, Cilic, who is yet to beat Del Potro on clay (0-3), is bidding to become the fourth Croatian man in the Open Era to reach the semi-finals in Paris.

“It’s always a tough matchup between both of us. I think we are always playing some tough matches, and I believe this one is going to be, for both of us, very tough,” Cilic said. “There’s going to be a lot of points played from the baseline that can make a difference… I think, in these kind of matches, not many points are differentiating the players. So it’s going to be extremely important to play every single point on a high level.”